The Iceland year-book - 01.01.1927, Page 51

Having offended society, the hero has been forced
into a life-long banishment in the desert mountains.
Rather than part from him, his wife has voluntarily
followed him into exile, though she well knows
that their life is doomed to he one of unspeakable
sufferings. When she dies he risks his life to carry
her dead body by night into the nearest — though
far distant — parish, so as to bury it in con-
secrated ground, for no rest is vouchsafed to the
spirit of one whose bones have not been in-
terred in „God’s Acre". The subject will he fami-
liar to many through Johann Sigurjonsson’s drama
Eyvind of the Hills (Oxford University Press).
Sports. In winter skating is of course universally
practised in the country; ski-ing also in
the more northerly parts, but in the South the winter
is often too mild for this and does not afford suf-
ficient snow. A peculiarly Icelandic, a very ancient,
and a highly developed game is the glima, a kind
of wrestling which depends more upon skill and
agility than upon strength. Foreigners of athletic
tastes are invariably much fascinated by this
game. Football has attained an immense popu-
larity during the last two decades, and the ancient
English game of stool-ball is not unknown, having
recently been introduced by one of its most pro-
minent English exponents. Lawn-tennis and cro-
quet are lately becoming fashionable.
Hints for Regular steamship service between Ice-
the land and foreign countries is main-
Tourist. tained by three different companies,
the Iceland Steamship Company of
45